Postgame Report | Comrie posts shutout as Sabres defeat Islanders

NEW YORK -Kyle Okposo felt the weight of a playoff push had crept into the Buffalo Sabres' game over the last month, forcing them away from their confident identity and toward uncharacteristic mistakes.
The Sabres captain addressed his teammates recently and told them simply to stay in the moment.
"I just told everybody to stay present," Okposo said. "There's been some emphasis put on that, put on the playoffs, put on results. I just think it cost us to get a little bit too emotional over the past three weeks to a month and I think our game suffered a little bit because of that."

The mindset was essential against the New York Islanders, who played true to their stingy, patient reputation inside UBS Arena on Saturday. They limited the Sabres' chances and, when they did allow the occasional break, goaltender Semyon Varlamov was there as a last line of defense.
The Sabres had to be equally patient in order to win. They stayed committed defensively, boxing out to prevent second chances in front of Eric Comrie until Okposo finally broke a scoreless tie with 6:29 remaining in the third period.
Jeff Skinner added an empty-net goal and Comrie put the finishing touches on a 26-save shutout - his first as a member of the Sabres - to complete a 2-0 win.

"It was a very mature game, I thought, from us," Okposo said. "We haven't always done that this year. We're the youngest team in the league, I've said that before. But we played the game that needed to be played today and we didn't get frustrated. We just continued to play our game.
"We didn't get sucked into trying to make too many plays or taking things that weren't there. That's obviously a very frustrating team to play against. They know how to win. They know how to lock it down and we just did a pretty good job staying patient tonight, so kudos to the guys."
It was the second win in as many nights for the Sabres, who were coming off a 5-4 victory over the offensively potent New Jersey Devils at home on Friday. The Islanders, who rank sixth in the NHL with an average of 2.70 goals allowed per game, presented a different challenge.
"You had to be very patient," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "That's something that hasn't been in our game a lot this season or much this season. We stayed on it, stayed on it. Very, very good job. We had to be good defensively."

How it happened

PERIOD 1
The Sabres outshot the Islanders 15-7, fueled in part by the line of JJ Peterka, Dylan Cozens, and Jack Quinn. The trio combined for five shot attempts, including a one-timer from Cozens on a 2-on-1 rush that was turned away on a loud pad save from Varlamov.
Comrie stopped all seven New York shots, including a pad save of his own on Pierre Engvall during the final minute.
PERIOD 2
The Sabres were unsuccessful on an early power play, then killed a pair of penalties during the latter half of the period to carry the 0-0 tie into the second intermission.
Comrie once again stopped all nine shots he faced.
PERIOD 3
Varlamov stopped Cozens on a breakaway on the opening shift of the period. Comrie responded midway through the period with another pad stop on Engvall, who was alone in front of the net.
Okposo broke the tie with 6:39 remaining. He received a high-to-low pass through the offensive zone from Ilya Lyubushkin and beat Varlamov on Buffalo's 31st shot of the night.

Skinner then added his 31st of the season to ice the game.

What we learned

1. Here are the standings after the first slate of Saturday's games wrapped up:
| Team | GP | Points | P% | Reg. W | ROW | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | WC1 - New York Islanders | 74 | 83 | .561 | 32 | 37 | | WC2 - Pittsburgh Penguins | 72 | 80 | .565 | 26 | 34 | | Florida Panthers | 73 | 79 | .541 | 31 | 34 | | Buffalo Sabres | 72 | 76 | .528 | 27 | 34 | | Washington Capitals | 73 | 76 | .521 | 26 | 32 | | Ottawa Senators | 72 | 75 | .521 | 28 | 33 | | Detroit Red Wings | 72 | 71 | .493 | 24 | 28 |
The Panthers lost to the Rangers 4-3 and the Red Wings fell to the Flyers 3-0.
Ottawa is playing New Jersey and Pittsburgh is playing Washington.
2.Comrie had not played since March 9 due to a lower-body injury. His last start was a 39-save performance against Dallas in which he allowed 10 goals.
Comrie's teammates felt they had let him down after the loss to the Stars, which added an extra element of motivation entering Saturday.
"We owed him big-time for the last game," Okposo said. "You're just happy for a guy like that. He's such a great guy, cares so much about the teammates. He never has a bad day, ever. We felt for him so it's great to see the zero."
3. Tage Thompson was in the lineup and skated 17:03 with eight shots attempts after being labeled as questionable by coach Don Granato postgame on Friday. Thompson had left the Sabres' victory over the Devils during the first period following a collision with Timo Meier but returned to finish the game.

Up next

The Sabres return home to host the Montreal Canadiens on Monday for the team's annual Pride Night. Tickets are available here.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7 on MSG and WGR 550.